Calls for OLAF head to quit over handling of Dalli case

Members of the European Parliament have called for the resignation of Giovanni Kessler, director-general of the European Union’s anti-fraud agency, OLAF, overallegations of irregularities in the investigation into John Dalli, the former European commissioner for health and consumer policy.

At a press conference on Thursday (21 March) – at which there were calls for a special committee in the European Parliament to investigate the affair – French Green MEP Jose Bové made a series of allegations. Bové said that Johan Gabrielsson, the public-affairs director at Swedish Match, the tobacco company at the centre of the allegations, had told him that a meeting between Dalli and a lobbyist that was central to the allegations against the former commissioner did not in fact take place.

In a conversation recorded by Bové, Gabrielsson said that once OLAF discovered that the meeting did not take place – after Dalli had resigned – the agency suggested that Swedish Match stick to the original story. “We had been told by OLAF that an investigation was going on in Malta, so keep to your version,” he is heard saying on the tape.

In October, OLAF found that Dalli was aware that a Maltese businessman had solicited Swedish Match for payment in exchange for influencing legislation on tobacco.

The lobbyist who represented Swedish Match during the meetings with the Maltese businessman, Gayle Kimberley, had originally spoken of two meetings. But it later emerged that she actually only attended one meeting. This partly corroborates Dalli’s account: he has maintained that only one meeting took place. The former commissioner presented the audio recording to Belgian police investigating the matter last week.

The European Commission has always said that Dalli’s resignation was a cut-and-dried case of impropriety, but there has been confusion over exactly which rules Dalli violated. MEPs complain that OLAF and the Commission are not co-operating with attempts to clarify the position.

Bové also said that an investigation by the OLAF supervisory committee has shown that the agency recorded conversations with witnesses without their knowledge or judicial authorisation, something it is not permitted to do. Kessler was aware of these decisions, the MEP claimed.

Swedish Match said that Bové was distorting Gabrielsson’s words. “At no point in time has OLAF put pressure on us or insinuated that we should alter our views of the events in either direction,” said a spokesman. “Several statements made at the press conference were remarkable twists of the conversation between Mr Bové and the representative of Swedish Match.”

‘Distorted comments’

OLAF has denied that it attempted to influence the evidence given by any witness, and denied that it illegally recorded telephone conversations. The agency said it “regrets that selected items of information from confidential reports have been disclosed inaccurately, out of context and in a distorted fashion in an attempt to create a misleading impression of the facts”.

In response to the new allegations, Ingeborg Grässle, a centre-right German MEP, called for Kessler to resign. She said there had been a series of irregularities in the investigation.

Grässle also complained that a report on the case has been delivered to the presidents of the European Parliament, European Commission and European Council, but has not been made available to MEPs. “The presidents have to stop covering up for the breaches, everything has to be put on the table now,” she said.

Maltese police are continuing their investigation, which has been delayed because Dalli is in ill-health. A Belgian hospital has issued him with a medical certificate saying that he is currently unfit to return to Malta.